Hogwarts Life: Fred Weasley
by klg193
Summary: Just a series of short stories for Fred Weasley. Designed with the reader as the main character. Any time there are blanks in the story, fill in your name. Chapters are chronological and spanning vast amounts of time.
1. Part 1: The Beginning

"Miss _, since your partner is not in class today, you will be working with Mr. Weasley."

I looked across the room and a red-headed boy smirked at me. _Just my luck _I thought to myself.

"Professor, would it be possible for me to work alone on this assignment?" I asked desperately.

"I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice."

Fred Weasley, my potions partner for the day, came over and sat next to me. "You seem awfully excited." he said sarcastically.

"Can we just get this over with?" I asked.

He seemed insulted. "Sorry to be such an inconvenience to you." he said bitterly.

I opened up my potions book and started working on the assignment. Fred sulked and complained most of the time but did what I asked him to, which was mainly passing me things and stirring.

"Where's your usual partner?" he asked.

"Sick. She has some weird virus that's going around. She's in the hospital wing."

"Oh," he said casually. I could tell he wanted me to ask him about his partner in crime who was currently M.I.A. but I did no such thing.

"Well, in case you're wondering, George was testing out our latest product, Fever Fudge, and lucky enough it works. So he has a fever."

"Great." I muttered, uninterested.

"What is it with you? Do you have a personality?"

I stopped working. "Of course I do. I'm just focused on school instead of messing around and getting into trouble."

"Do you ever have fun? Oh, besides studying I mean."

I gave him a harsh look and said, "Fun doesn't get you a good job at the ministry."

"Yeah, but it gets you friends, which to me, is more important. But I guess you wouldn't have any experience with that."

I had nothing to say because that last statement really got to me. I had friends, or acquaintances maybe. We mostly would talk about school. Now that I thought about it, I didn't really have any great friends. No one I could share my innermost feelings with.

"Someone's quiet." I looked at him with tears in my eyes as I realized that in this world I was totally alone.

"_, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I spoke without thinking."

I didn't say anything and went back to working on the potion. I wasn't planning on saying anything else. I grabbed a vile without thinking and poured it into the cauldron. "No, don't do that!" I gave Fred a confused look as he panicked, but it was too late. Fireworks began shooting out of our potion and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Everyone in class began laughing at us as we were both silently freaking out.

"Miss _ and Mr. Weasley you will be joining me in detention for this stunt you just pulled where you will completely remake this potion." Snape said.

"But Professor-"

"No exceptions." I sighed as class was dismissed and ran out of the room to Transfiguration. The feeling inside of me was weird. I felt sad but almost appreciative that Fred said something because I never would have noticed before. And of course angry that he completely screwed up our potion. And I now had a detention because of that. I rushed off to class and tried to refocus on my studies.

I arrived in the potions room for my detention five minutes early. I had to maintain my practicality. Snape wasn't even here yet, let alone Fred. I sat down and did some work to pass the time. Soon Snape walked in the room and asked me where Fred was. Like I knew. As if on cue, Fred walked in at that moment, flipping his red locks.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Weasley," said Snape.

Fred just gave him a smug look and sat down next to me. Snape instructed us on what to do and we got started right away. I didn't say a word to him.

"So you're mad at me, I get it. But I can't take the silence. At least say something." he said to me.

"Well I'm more than mad at you. I'm furious. Why the hell would you screw up our potion like that?"

"Okay, so that turned out worse than I planned. It was supposed to be funny, but I didn't anticipate us arguing and me being a jerk." Oh, so he admits that he was a jerk.

"Yeah, but why did you do it?"

"Honestly _, because you frustrate me. You are the only person who doesn't think the pranks George and I play are funny. You don't even seem to notice us at all. It's just...different I guess." I looked at him then continued working on the potion.

"The reason I seem distant toward you two specifically is because I try to ignore you. Your pranks and jokes are a distraction to my work."

"Why do you care so much about school?! I mean it's possible to do well in school AND have a life. Why are you always so serious. You need to loosen up."

"Loosen up? Maybe you don't know me very well. I'm not really into humor or fun."

"That's because you don't know what fun is. What's the most fun you've ever had?"

I stopped working and thought for a moment. "When I went skiing with my parents in the Alps."

He gave me a look that said 'are you kidding me?' "That's the most fun you've ever had? Okay, you've just become my new project."

"Excuse me?"

"Yep, I'm taking you under my wing and showing you how to have fun."

"Wait a second, what if I don't want to be your project?"

"Sorry, you have no choice. Even if you resist, I'll find a way." I decided not to argue because he had a point.

"Fine." I agreed.

"Okay, well tonight there may or may not be a party in the Room of Requirement."

I gave him a puzzled look, "Room of Requirement?"

He looked at me in astonishment. "You've never heard of the Room of Requirement?"

"Evidently not."

"So this means I'm gonna have to escort you there eh? Alright, meet me by the One-Eyed Witch statue and we'll go from there." I sighed yet still agreed.

We finished our potion and left promptly. I went to the Ravenclaw common room and changed into something a little more casual, jeans and a v-neck sweater. Once changed I headed to the statue where I was supposed to meet Fred. To my surprise, he was already there waiting for me.

"I'm not late am I?" I asked.

He shook his head and replied, "I'm just early."

I nodded in approval and waited for him to lead the way, but he didn't budge.

"Which way to this top secret room?"

"Oh we aren't going straight to the party. I have an errand to run and you are going to help me." I was sure I looked skeptical.

"Well, where are we going?"

"To Hogsmeade."

"But...how? Are we sneaking out!? I can't do that."

"Sure you can. We won't get caught. I've done this loads of times." He muttered some words and the hump of the witch statue opened.

"Ladies first," he said while hoisting me up, into the passageway. I slid down and yet out a little yelp, to which I'm sure he laughed at. I reached the bottom and landed unsteadily. Moments later he came down and landed with two feet firmly on the ground, acting like it was no big deal. Always the show-off. He led the way down a dark corridor and I found myself shivering.

"Wish you would've told me we were coming here. Then I could have brought a coat."

"Let's be realistic now, if I told you we were sneaking out of the castle, you would not have agreed to come." This statement was true, and I knew it.

"I just don't see what so great about sneaking out."

"It's the whole breaking the rules thing. Be a little rebellious."

We walked in silence for a little bit until Fred announced we had reached our destination. There was some sort of trap door directly above us. He opened the door and then lifted me so I was able to climb out. Once out, I offered him my hand to help him out. He seemed pleasantly surprised at this gesture. We snuck up the stairs and I recognized the store to be Honeydukes. We entered the main shop and weren't spotted by anyone. Granted there was probably only one or two people working since it was edging 10 on a Thursday night. I was baffled when George opened the door and walked outside.

I followed him confused and finally asked, "Wait where exactly are we going?"

"The three broomsticks. We need to get Butterbeer. Maybe we'll get some sweets at Honeydukes on the way back."

He was walking like he was on a mission and I was shooting questions at him left and right. I then realized how freezing cold it was outside. I crossed my arms and started shivering. Fred only noticed once my teeth started chattering.

"Oh, you're freezing aren't you? Here take...this!" he said, handing me over his trapper hat.

"Thanks, but do you really think this will help?"

"It's better than nothing." I shrugged and put it on. I'm sure it looked silly on me, but Fred didn't make a snarky comment. We reached the Three Broomsticks and snuck in through the backdoor. We couldn't let any ordinary wizard see us there when we were supposed to be at Hogwarts. Madame Rosmerta gave Fred a disapproving look, but still supplied him with the Butterbeer, free of charge. He clued me in that this had become somewhat of a routine for him. It shouldn't have surprised me that he did this often, but it did.

"So where's you mischievous twin brother on this lovely night?"

"Funny story, he's actually trying to woo this girl he fancies. It's cute how much he likes her. Too bad she's way too good for him."

"Aww, who is she? Do I know her?"

"Possibly, but I doubt it. She's a Gryffindor and although she's brilliant, she's also very social. Something tells me you two run in different circles."

"Ouch. Way to sugar coat it."

"Just being honest."

"I actually like that about you, the fact you're honest."

"Anything else you like about me?" he said flirtatiously. I didn't even know how to respond. I didn't typically flirt with guys so this was out of my comfort zone.

"Nope, not really." I know that may have sounded rude, but I froze! I couldn't think of anything to say and I ended up just blurting this out. I was expecting Fred to say something, but he kept quiet. The walk back to Honeydukes was kind of awkward. I'm not one to just strike up a conversation. I was counting on Fred to do that but he seemed a little upset.

"Look, I'm sorry if what I said upset you. I just...didn't know what to say."

"Maybe you should try some honesty, like me. Remember?"

"Okay then. I think you are smart because you manage to pull off pranks and sneaking out like this. And I think you are funny, but I don't feel the need to give you attention. And I think you are actually a nice guy. Even if you might not always show it, I know deep down you're sweet. All this from knowing you personally for a day." This clearly gave him a confidence boost as he had a smug look on his face now.

"Well why didn't you just say that before?"

"I'm not exactly one to shower someone in compliments."

"Then what did you just do?" I rolled my eyes in disbelief and continued walking.

"I think you are brilliant when it comes to school but completely dim when it comes to being social. And I think you're extremely stubborn. But I think you're beautiful." I was unsure of how to respond. Of course I wanted to smile and get all giddy, but I couldn't give him the satisfaction No one had ever come close to calling me pretty, let alone beautiful.

"You're allowed to smile you know. You don't have to be emotionless." he said to me. I let out a small smile and we finally reached Honeydukes. He opened the door for me and said, "Do you want anything?" I politely declined out of reflex. He didn't listen to me though. He grabbed a handful of chocolate hearts and placed them in my hand.

"Are you gonna pay for those?"

"I'm friends with the owner. He's given me the permission to take anything."

"You just have all these connections don't you."

"Well..." he said while shrugging his shoulders. We headed down to the cellar and he opened the trap door. He volunteered to go first. Fred lowered himself beneath the floorboards expertly and I handed him the Butterbeer. He offered to help me down but I was feeling riskier and told him I could do it myself. I figured that if he could do it easily, I could too. Except I forgot to account for the height difference. A small drop to him was easily a big drop to me. The majority of my body was in the secret passage way with my hands being the only thing holding me up. I slowly lowered myself more and eventually I had to drop. This would have been fine if I weren't a total klutz. I landed on one foot but couldn't keep my balance and found myself falling. Lucky for me, Fred was there to catch me. "Thanks," I said while a scarlet blush spread over my cheeks.

"It's nothing," he smiled. We walked back to Hogwarts and I really started to feel like a rebel, for the first time ever. We were almost back when I voiced this to Fred.

"You know, I kind of like being a rule breaker. Taking risks like this provides a lot of thrill I've never experienced before."

"So, fun would you say?"

"Yeah, it was fun."

"Mission complete. You haven't even been to the party yet."

I laughed, "You're right. I owe you for this. We should do this more often."

"You mean you'd actually want to spend more time with me!?" he asked in a tone of mockery. I stopped walking and so did he.

"Fred, you are such an interesting person. I find myself wanting to spend more and more time with you." It was quiet for a moment so I added, "I'm just trying that whole honesty thing out."

He leaned in closer to me and the next thing I know his lips were on mine. And I was kissing back! This was the last thing I ever would have expected to happen.

After a little while he pulled back and said, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"And what do you mean by that?" I questioned.

"I think we're gonna be seeing a lot more of each other."

I smiled and said. "Who would've thought two people as opposite as us would ever end up as friends."

"I think we're gonna be more than friends." he said as he grabbed my hand. I loved being with Fred because I could actually come out of my shell. I didn't have to put on a show to be the smartest girl. I could just be me. From that day forward, Fred and I spent almost every day together. And every day I was with him I found myself more and more.


	2. Part 2: The Yule Ball

I was working away in the library. I had an absolute monster of a paper that I had to finish tonight for History of Magic. No matter how many revisions I made, it still needed work. Luckily, I was in a little nook in the corner of the library where no one would bother me. Everyone seemed to be so concerned with the festivities associated with the Triwizard tournament that quality of schoolwork seemed to be lacking. And all this Yule Ball buzz was infuriating. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to go to such a thing. Sounded like a waste of time to me.

"Boo!" Someone shouted. I jumped about three feet in the air and heard laughter coming from behind me.

"Fred! Don't do that to me! This is a library anyway. You aren't supposed to be yelling. There are people studying."

"Yeesh, sorry. You have to admit it was kind of funny. And besides, you're the only person here. So I'm not bothering anyone."

"Except for me."

"I'm bothering you? Wow, _, that's rough. That hurts."

"Just shut up and sit down," I said pulling out a chair for him to sit in. He followed my instructions and slumped down next to me.

"So, what are we working on here?"

"History of Magic essay."

"I thought you finished that a week ago!"

"Well I did, but I needed to revise it."

"Are you serious? That essay was perfectly good. Even Hermione thought it was brilliant."

"No, it wasn't good enough."

"_, stop," Fred said. He put his hand on mine to stop me from writing. "You need to take a break from school work. Teachers aren't even expecting assignments to be turned in with all the Triwizard stuff going on. Take advantage of it."

"I don't believe that," I said.

"Nope. You're done working for today. We're hanging out. Let's go, pack it up." I don't know why but I found myself listening to him, but I did as he requested.

"Atta girl. Come on let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

We walked around the castle and eventually we reached the Black Lake. It was beautiful at night and had froze over due to the winter weather.

"Wow, this is actually beautiful," I sighed. Fred smiled at me and said, "I'm glad you like it. Now here comes the good part." He handed me a pair of white ice skates and I realized what we were about to do.

"Oh no. Ohhhh no. Fred, this is not safe!"

"Come on _. Take a little risk. It's fun. Besides, would I let anything bad happen to you?" The look in his eyes told me he was being genuine. And I did trust him. I put the skates on and magically tied them up with my wand. Fred took my hand and we hobbled over to the lake. He stepped onto the ice first, and assured me it was frozen solid. Then he helped me on and we glided a little bit. I learned how to skate when I was a young child, but it had been ages since I'd been on the ice. It didn't take me long to figure out how to balance myself and soon enough I was gliding and actually enjoying myself. Fred was showing off by circling me and essentially mocking me, but it was all in good fun.

"_, come here!" he said, calling me over. I skated over to him and he said, "I want to try something."

He stood next to me, took one my hands and told me to try and skate backwards. I tried my best and for a minute, we probably looked really good. Professional almost. Then all of the sudden one of us lost our balance and both of us toppled over. Falling always hurts but this time it was less painful. We both erupted with laughter, the kind that's unexplainable. After several minutes both of us started to calm down. I noticed Fred was just looking at me with interest. Suddenly he put his icy hand under my chin and moved in to kiss me. It was the first time we'd kissed since the Hogsmeade excursion. I think Fred picked up on the fact that I didn't want to move into anything too fast.

"_, can I ask you something?" he stated, seriously.

"Sure, anything."

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" I was a little stunned. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't planning on attending but now that I had a date, maybe it would actually be fun.

"I'd like that," I said simply. He smiled a silly grin and helped me up off the ice. We eventually finished skating and he walked me to the Ravenclaw tower. I hugged him goodbye and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. At that moment I was happy that I had stopped working on my paper and had a nice relaxing night.

I didn't expect myself to get so excited for the ball. The days leading up to it were so long and I just wanted the special day to arrive. I managed to find myself a simple, yet elegant dress for a decent price and after I got that, everything else kind of fell into place somehow ( yule_ball_with_fred_weasley/set?id=68859027). I fixed my hair one of the only ways I knew how: half up half down. But to make it a little nicer I curled my hair ever so slightly and went for a bit of the poof effect on the top. Fred arrived right on time to pick me up and he complimented me endlessly. Dressing up was more fun than I realized. It made me want to start dressing a little nicer on a daily basis.

We arrived to the actual ball and I was amazed at how beautiful everything was. A lot of people complimented me and it was definitely an ego boost. Fred's brother George seemed to be missing again, which I sensed was becoming a regular thing. We watched the champions process in and the dancing began soon after.

It was then that I had the realization that I didn't really know how to dance. It was too late though; Fred was already dragging me onto the dance floor. I can imagine the panicked look on my face was terrifying but Fred didn't seem too horrified.

"Something wrong?" he asked calmly.

"It's just, I don't really know how to dance."

"Sure you do. It's just like ice skating," he smiled. When he put it like that, it made sense. I kind of figured out how to move in time with the music and soon enough I loved dancing. Especially with Fred.


	3. Part 3: The Departure

"So you're just leaving?" I asked, stunned.

"Yeah. Hogwarts has nothing left to offer George and I. We'd rather work out this whole business idea now and have it up and running as soon as possible."

"Wow, this is just so sudden."

"We've been thinking about it for a while but Umbridge just sent us over the edge recently. We're leaving tomorrow during the O.W.L.s."

"I'm sure you've got some extravagant plan to go out with a bang. Am I right?"

"Of course you're right my dear."

"Brilliant," I smirked.

"There's more though. _, I want you to come with me."

"What? Fred, you know I can't."

"Why not?

"I….I have school."

"Yeah, but you only have a few months left. It won't make a difference. Please, just come with me."

"Fred, I need to finish school. Do you know how awful it will look if I drop out of school? I won't get a ministry level job."

"Who cares about getting a ministry level job? Do you really want to work for the ministry right now anyway? It's kind of on its way to being corrupted. Just look how much Percy's changed in a year."

"Well you're the one who thinks it's such a brilliant idea to open a joke shop right now? With this economy, it's unlikely you'll be making a profit." I immediately regretted saying this. I was just hurt by Fred's words and I thought retaliating would help, but it only enhanced his argument.

"I want to open a joke shop to give people a small sense of happiness. Things are only going to get darker and people will want to go somewhere to escape from the real world. It's not about economics, it's about helping people out and following my dream." His eyes looked hurt but still burned with a passion that was admirable. I'd been completely wrong. "Apparently this is a lost cause. Sorry I wasted your time," he said as he stormed off. You were left standing there, feeling horrible about yourself not knowing what you could do to make it better. Instead of trying to talk to Fred, or even George to see if Fred was okay, I did nothing. This was probably the biggest mistake of my life I would later discover.

Fred had left maybe a week ago and nothing had changed between us. I never had the opportunity to say goodbye, I didn't see him off; in fact we hadn't even spoken since the argument. The great relationship we had going was kind of at a stand still and I wasn't sure where that left us. Day by day this ate away at me until I realized the only way this would change is if I did it myself. The decision was made within seconds; I knew what had to be done.

An hour or two later and all of my things were packed up. I wrote a note to my roommate explaining I was leaving and I set off. The plan was to use the One-Eyed Witch passageway to get Honeydukes and then from there apparate to Diagon Alley. I planned to embark around 11:30 so I wouldn't disturb anyone and hopefully not get caught. Now all I had to do was wait.

The castle quieted down pretty quickly, then again it was a Tuesday and most people were trying to catch a good night's rest before classes tomorrow. The Ravenclaw common room was dead and I was able to sneak out there easily. My biggest worry at this point was running into Filch or Snape. I'd surely lose house points and be stuck here for at least another week. It was pretty dark in the corridors but I knew them well so it wasn't too difficult to navigate. I was almost there, the statue was in sight, when I heard movement coming down the hall. Someone had seen me and was coming closer. I tried my best to hide but it was difficult to hide in the middle of a hallway.

"_, is that you?" I sighed once I recognized who it was. Professor Flitwick.

"Yes sir. It's me."

"What are you doing out this late?" he asked. Professor Flitwick always liked me, maybe because I was a Ravenclaw. I was lucky he was the one who caught me and not anyone else.

"Erm, I'm actually leaving." I probably shouldn't have said this, but it was Flitwick. If anyone were to understand, it'd be him.

"Leaving Hogwarts? Why? The year's almost up! And you have your N.E.W.T's to take still."

"I just realized I don't belong here right now. I made a huge mistake by letting someone leave and now I have to go chase after them." At this point I think it was all making sense to him. He nodded and said, "I understand. Do what you must."

I smiled a grateful smile at him and continued on towards the statue. "Oh and _, I didn't see anything," he said with a wink. I chuckled briefly and went on my way.

I reached the passage and the journey kind of went blurry from there. I was just so nervous about seeing Fred and what was going to happen. I literally had no idea what to expect. For all I knew he could have been with some other girl at the moment. I couldn't turn back now though. I had to at least find out where our relationship was going.

Once I reached the Honeydukes basement, I realized I had no idea where to apparate to. Fred hadn't told me where they were planning on living. I didn't think they were back at the Burrow so I didn't want to go there. I decided the only thing I could do was focus all my energy on Fred and just hope that my wand would take me there. I closed my eyes and hoped for the best.

I opened my eyes and found myself on the doorstep of an apartment. I looked around and didn't recognize where I was. But I heard voices, familiar voices. They came from the door in front of me, which happened to be cracked open the slightest bit.

"George, I have to go back and at least apologize."

"Just give her a little time to think. She's probably upset and confused. Let her sort everything out before you go back."

"I need to go back now. I never should have left without saying goodbye. I need her in my life. She's the one mate."

"Wow, that's pretty serious. I….I had no idea."

"I just won't be able to live with myself if I don't go back and win her over. I can't let her get away."

"Okay but at least wait until the morning."

"What's the point? I haven't been able to sleep the past few nights, tonight won't be any different. I won't be able to sleep until she's in my arms."

"All I'm saying is make a plan or something. Don't just go barging in and think everything is going to work out."

"I know, it's just…I feel like I'm going crazy without her. Leaving her was the biggest mistake of my life. I love her."

I don't know what came over me but I opened the door and stepped into the apartment. George saw me but Fred must not have heard me.

"I love you too," I said. George just stood there, grinning, as I'm sure the expression on Fred's face was priceless. He turned around and saw me standing there, with all my bags, and smiled the biggest smile I'd ever seen. He rushed over to me, picked me up and spun me around.

"Surprise!" I laughed.

"You're brilliant you know that?" he said to me.

"I am?"

"Yes, and you're amazing and perfect and the love of my life."

"As soon as you left, it was like there was this hole inside of me. And everyday you were gone it got bigger. I should never have let you leave without saying goodbye. And you were right, about everything. I'd be crazy to work for the ministry when it's in this state."

"Why are we still talking?" he asked. I took that as my cue to kiss him, and kiss him I did. It felt amazing to be in his arms again I'd only been without him for a week and it felt like an eternity. Soon he was helping me unpack and telling me the plans for the store and such and I was excited for him.

I finally arrived home after a long day of work at the Ministry Press. It's not that the work was terribly difficult, it just took a while to get the wording precise on all the Wanted posters and informational pamphlets printed by the Ministry. It wasn't a great job but it paid all right. I was also hoping that once the Wizarding World was restored and out of the dark times, I could still get a job at the Ministry and knowing some people at the Ministry Press couldn't hurt.

Just when I was contemplating what to make for dinner, Fred emerged with a few bags in his hands.

"Hello darling," he said while kissing my cheek.

"Hi love. What've you got there?"

"Brought home some soup from the Leaky Cauldron. Thought I'd give you a break from cooking."

"Oh that sounds perfect! Thank you," I smiled. Fred knew I loved the soup at the Leaky Cauldron. This was the perfect night for him to bring it home too.

Soon the soup was in a bowl in front of me and I eagerly started eating. Fred sat across from me but seemed…jittery or nervous. He was tapping his fingers on the table, which I knew was a nervous habit of his, and he was awfully quiet.

"Where's George tonight?" I questioned.

"Working in the store," he responded.

"Is everything okay?"

"Great. Yeah, everything's great." I didn't believe him for a second, but I knew he would open up to me if he needed to talk. Pestering him would do no good. It was very possible him and George got into an argument and it upset him.

I started complaining a bit about my day, which made me feel a little bit better, as I ate my soup. It wasn't late at all but I was definitely tired and planned on going to bed early. I cleaned up the kitchen with a little bit of magic and proceeded to the bedroom, to change into nightclothes and maybe read a little bit before going to sleep. It was then I was engulfed by the smell of roses. I noticed the bed was missing and in its place was what appeared to be a blanket fort fastened into a tent. I peeked inside and all the sudden the lights went out. I gasped but a moment later there was a single candle lit at my feet. I wasn't sure if I should pick it up but found my answer a second later when another candle across from it lit up. Then suddenly multiple candles began to flame and a pathway was formed in front of me. The tent had been charmed considering the amount of space inside was far greater than the blanket itself. I started walking and realized the floral fragrance I smelled before was coming from the tent, where dozens and dozens of flowers were scattered on the floor. After a few minutes of taking in the atmosphere and walking for a few minutes, I began to see what looked like a bed ahead of me. Once I reached the bed, I noticed a rustic trunk at the foot of the bed. Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I opened the trunk and inside was another box. I pulled the box out and inside of that was another box. I saw where this was going and continued opening the boxes until there was a very small one left in my hand. It was a black velvet box…one that typically carried jewelry. I took a deep breath before opening it and inside found a very small piece of rolled up parchment. I opened it and it read _Turn Around._

I looked behind me and Fred was kneeling on one knee, looking at me with loving eyes. I walked toward him and smiled, as a happy tear fell down my face knowing what was about to happen.

"_, I know we've only been together for about a year and a half, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are everything I could ever ask for and I love the person I am when I'm with you. Will you be my wife?"

The tears were flowing now. "Of course I will," I managed to say. He slid a beautiful gold ring on my finger. It had a citrine stone and was encircled in several smaller diamonds.

"If you don't like it, we can take it back. It just stood out and reminded me of you. I didn't want to get you a plain old diamond. You're too special for that."

I hugged and kissed him after he said that. "It's perfect. I love you," I said. The rest of the night was kind of a blur to me. So much happened and after a bottle of champagne it was a bit of a skewed timeline. I just know everything about it was perfect and completely unexpected. I had been planning forever with Fred and now it confirmed my dream would finally come true.


End file.
